1987.5 vs. Special Build

[Huw Powell]

> Really? Special Build is what I had always heard it was called.
> It's even called that on some pretty nice web pages:
> Mike Tipton's web page: http://igdc.com/ejfluhr/audi/Coupes.html ;
> Grand Touring Audi: http://www.metrocomputing.net/gtworld/cars/coupegt.htm ;
> a Motor Cities web page: http://www.motorcities.com/contents/00HSD251835985.html;
> Fellow lister Wayne Reser calls his a Special Build: http://www.audifans.com/registry/view.php?action=viewCar&carid=783
> When I brought it in the first time, the service writer ran over to a co-worker and said something like: "Hey, have you ever seen a Special Build before, there's one in Bay 2." He didn't even call it a Coupe GT Special Build, just a Special Build. So it appears I'm not the ONLY person who calls it a Special Build, heck even my dealer calls it that. But I DO want to call it by the correct name. I always thought that "Special Build" was what Audi called it in the USA. Is that wrong? Where did all these other people get the idea
> to call it that? They all couldn't have made it up and come up with the same thing, could they?

Well...

First, some of these pages pre-date my having a clue about all this, so
I would defer to them on a casual level.  The trouble is, we are all
reading each other and picking up "lingo" as we go, to try to ID things
clearly to each other.  Witness the several often completely different
phrase used to describe some parts of the cars.

here's a quote from the second web site above:

"Then, in "Late 87" (july and on) Audi produced what came to be known as
the "Special Build Coupe GT."

I think that is a telling phrase - "came to be known" says to me that it
is what we out here in the world started calling the car to separate it
from the 2.2 liter version.  And while I may be happy with "1987.5",
that is a rather USA-specific distinction, judging by some of the other
feedback on this thread.

So it is certainly a harmless description, and used enough to be useful.

The only question lingering in my mind is... did Audi ever have
nomenclature for this version of the Coupe GT?  Internal codes or
external sales names for it?  Is it mentioned in owners manuals or
advertising material? It would be nice to get to the bottom of this,
wouldn't it?

(Example: the description "Ur Quattro" or "UrQ" is an after the fact
designation that has taken hold and is pretty well defined and useful.
No point in arguing with it just because Audi didn't call the car by
that name)

You'd expect it to be - it may be, as someone said, just "a few extra
horsepower," but in a small hp platform like this, that engine change is
good for about 15% more power and 20% more torque.

--
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/

http://www.humanthoughts.org/